diff --git a/docs/docker-compose/teuthology/teuthology.sh b/docs/docker-compose/teuthology/teuthology.sh
index f5e7cd160..b221512c9 100755
--- a/docs/docker-compose/teuthology/teuthology.sh
+++ b/docs/docker-compose/teuthology/teuthology.sh
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ if [ -z "$TEUTHOLOGY_WAIT" ]; then
     teuthology-queue -m $MACHINE_TYPE -s | \
       python3 -c "import sys, json; assert json.loads(sys.stdin.read())['count'] > 0, 'queue is empty!'"
 fi
-echo "$(pwd)"
 teuthology-dispatcher -v \
     --log-dir /teuthology/log \
     --tube $MACHINE_TYPE \
diff --git a/teuthology/repo_utils.py b/teuthology/repo_utils.py
index 6ab0747ad..5b29c6133 100644
--- a/teuthology/repo_utils.py
+++ b/teuthology/repo_utils.py
@@ -66,10 +66,14 @@ def ls_remote(url, ref):
     """
     sha1 = None
     cmd = "git ls-remote {} {}".format(url, ref)
-    result = subprocess.check_output(
-        cmd, shell=True).split()
-    if result:
-        sha1 = result[0].decode()
+    try:
+        result = subprocess.check_output(
+            cmd, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
+            shell=True).split()
+        if result:
+            sha1 = result[0].decode()
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+        raise GitError(e.output) from None
     log.debug("{} -> {}".format(cmd, sha1))
     return sha1
 
diff --git a/teuthology/suite/__init__.py b/teuthology/suite/__init__.py
index 9bb876f2b..c71ffcf15 100644
--- a/teuthology/suite/__init__.py
+++ b/teuthology/suite/__init__.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import os
 import random
 import time
+import re
 from distutils.util import strtobool
 
 import teuthology
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@
 
 from teuthology.suite.run import Run
 from teuthology.suite.util import schedule_fail
+from teuthology.exceptions import ScheduleFailError
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -51,33 +53,40 @@ def process_args(args):
         key = key.lstrip('--').replace('-', '_')
         # Rename the key if necessary
         key = rename_args.get(key) or key
-        if key == 'suite_branch':
-            value = value or override_arg_defaults('--suite-branch', None)
-        if key == 'suite' and value is not None:
-            value = normalize_suite_name(value)
-        if key == 'suite_relpath' and value is None:
-            value = ''
-        elif key in ('limit', 'priority', 'num', 'newest', 'seed', 'job_threshold'):
-            value = int(value)
-        elif key == 'subset' and value is not None:
-            # take input string '2/3' and turn into (2, 3)
-            value = tuple(map(int, value.split('/')))
-        elif key in ('filter_all', 'filter_in', 'filter_out', 'rerun_statuses'):
-            if not value:
-                value = []
-            else:
-                value = [x.strip() for x in value.split(',')]
-        elif key == 'ceph_repo':
-            value = expand_short_repo_name(
-                value,
-                config.get_ceph_git_url())
-        elif key == 'suite_repo':
-            value = expand_short_repo_name(
-                value,
-                config.get_ceph_qa_suite_git_url())
-        elif key in ('validate_sha1', 'filter_fragments'):
-            value = strtobool(value)
-        conf[key] = value
+        try:
+            if key == 'suite_branch':
+                value = value or override_arg_defaults('--suite-branch', None)
+            if key == 'suite' and value is not None:
+                value = normalize_suite_name(value)
+            if key == 'suite_relpath' and value is None:
+                value = ''
+            elif key in ('limit', 'priority', 'num', 'newest', 'seed', 'job_threshold'):
+                value = int(value)
+                if key != 'seed' and value < 0:
+                    log.error("{} value cannot be < 0".format(key))
+                    raise ScheduleFailError("{} value cannot be < 0".format(key),'')
+            elif key == 'subset' and value is not None:
+                # take input string '2/3' and turn into (2, 3)
+                value = tuple(map(int, value.split('/')))
+            elif key in ('filter_all', 'filter_in', 'filter_out', 'rerun_statuses'):
+                if not value:
+                    value = []
+                else:
+                    value = [x.strip() for x in value.split(',')]
+            elif key == 'ceph_repo':
+                value = expand_short_repo_name(
+                    value,
+                    config.get_ceph_git_url())
+            elif key == 'suite_repo':
+                value = expand_short_repo_name(
+                    value,
+                    config.get_ceph_qa_suite_git_url())
+            elif key in ('validate_sha1', 'filter_fragments'):
+                value = strtobool(value)
+            conf[key] = value
+        except ValueError:
+            log.error("{} value has incorrect type/format".format(key))
+            raise ScheduleFailError("{} value has incorrect type/format".format(key),'')
     return conf
 
 
diff --git a/teuthology/suite/run.py b/teuthology/suite/run.py
index b69b80b58..30c5142cd 100644
--- a/teuthology/suite/run.py
+++ b/teuthology/suite/run.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from teuthology.config import config, JobConfig
 from teuthology.exceptions import (
     BranchMismatchError, BranchNotFoundError, CommitNotFoundError,
+    ScheduleFailError, GitError
 )
 from teuthology.misc import deep_merge, get_results_url
 from teuthology.orchestra.opsys import OS
@@ -103,8 +104,14 @@ def create_initial_config(self):
 
 
         if self.args.distro_version:
-            self.args.distro_version, _ = \
-                OS.version_codename(self.args.distro, self.args.distro_version)
+            try:
+                self.args.distro_version, _ = \
+                    OS.version_codename(self.args.distro, self.args.distro_version)
+            except KeyError:
+                raise ScheduleFailError(
+                    " ditro: {} or distro_version: {} doesn't exists".format(
+                    self.args.distro, self.args.distro_version),''
+                )
         self.config_input = dict(
             suite=self.args.suite,
             suite_branch=suite_branch,
@@ -129,8 +136,11 @@ def choose_os(self):
         os_type = self.args.distro
         os_version = self.args.distro_version
         if not (os_type and os_version):
-            os_ = util.get_distro_defaults(
-                self.args.distro, self.args.machine_type)[2]
+            try:
+                os_ = util.get_distro_defaults(
+                    self.args.distro, self.args.machine_type)[2]
+            except KeyError:
+                raise ScheduleFailError("distro {} doesn't exists".format(self.args.distro),'')
         else:
             os_ = OS(os_type, os_version)
         return os_
@@ -186,8 +196,11 @@ def choose_ceph_hash(self):
             log.info("ceph sha1 explicitly supplied")
 
         elif self.args.ceph_branch:
-            ceph_hash = util.git_ls_remote(
+            try:
+                ceph_hash = util.git_ls_remote(
                 self.args.ceph_repo, self.args.ceph_branch)
+            except GitError as e:
+                raise util.schedule_fail(message=str(e), name=self.name, dry_run=self.args.dry_run) from None
             if not ceph_hash:
                 exc = BranchNotFoundError(
                     self.args.ceph_branch,
@@ -575,8 +588,11 @@ def schedule_suite(self):
             self.suite_repo_path,
             self.args.suite_relpath,
             'suites',
-            self.base_config.suite.replace(':', '/'),
+            suite_name.replace(':', '/'),
         ))
+        if not os.path.exists(suite_path):
+            log.error("Suite path doesn't exists")
+            raise ScheduleFailError("Suite path doesn't exists", suite_name)
         log.debug('Suite %s in %s' % (suite_name, suite_path))
         log.debug(f"subset = {self.args.subset}")
         log.debug(f"no_nested_subset = {self.args.no_nested_subset}")
diff --git a/teuthology/suite/util.py b/teuthology/suite/util.py
index 7e1ae35cc..b75647e4a 100644
--- a/teuthology/suite/util.py
+++ b/teuthology/suite/util.py
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ def get_sha1s(project, committish, count):
         if len(sha1s) != count:
             log.debug('got response: %s', resp.json())
             log.error('can''t find %d parents of %s in %s: %s',
-                       int(count), sha1, project, resp.json()['error'])
+                       int(count), sha1, project, resp.json())
         return sha1s
 
     # index 0 will be the commit whose parents we want to find.